Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2025

Sliding of liquid droplets on thin viscoelastic soft layers

Résumé

Soft substrates are deformed by liquid-vapor surface tension upon contact with liquid droplets, forming the well-known wetting ridge. This ridge dynamically propagates with the moving contact line and critically influences liquid spreading. Here, we experimentally investigate gravity-driven sliding dynamics of water droplets on vertically tilted silicone layers whose viscoleasticity is characterized by the Chasset-Thirion model with the exponent m. At low Bond numbers, the sliding velocity scales with droplet size as V S ∼ D 2 m . While in the thin-film limit, velocity exhibits a pronounced power-law dependence on nominal substrate thickness, V S ∼ Π(h) -1 m . We rationalize these observations by quantifying viscoelastic dissipation within the soft layer and balancing it against the gravitational driving force using an energy-conservation framework. Our findings offer novel avenues for designing advanced soft coatings, anti-fouling and self-cleaning surfaces, and biomedical devices.

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Dates et versions

hal-05019092 , version 1 (12-04-2025)
hal-05019092 , version 2 (05-08-2025)

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Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-05019092 , version 1

Citer

Menghua Zhao, Julien Dervaux, Tetsuharu Narita, François Lequeux, Laurent Limat, et al.. Sliding of liquid droplets on thin viscoelastic soft layers. 2025. ⟨hal-05019092v1⟩

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